


The Return

by Eleih



Category: Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:12:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eleih/pseuds/Eleih
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Allura is awoken to the return of the one she loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Return

Maybe it was the faint glare of something entering the atmosphere that woke Allura up that night. Maybe it was the shifting of the mice sleeping in her hair, slightly tugging on her roots. Maybe it was the tremors of the castle created by the constantly on particle deflector shield. It had been on for days and was a hassle to be on, but they had no choice. Danger could come from anywhere and Allura was never going to be outsmarted again. She had to take every precaution no matter the personal inconveniences. Maybe it was the light patter of the falling ethanol against the barrier that caused this but the thought of her castle being breached meant that she never slept well. Whatever it was, Allura awoke slowly but cautiously. She checked the pistol under her pillow and subconsciously grew herself to look more intimidating. Attackers tended to be more cautious around bigger targets and so would keep their distance. This would allow Allura to attack without hesitation. She had learned to do that now, but not without great cost. There was no one in her room. After Voltron had been separated by the destabilized warp gate, Allura had had to find her own way in the universe, even for someone of her intellect, catching up on ten thousand years of history had not been easy. The universe had become a much crueler place in her absence. She had had to fight her way through the cosmos, using intellect, power and allure as her weapons. Her resolved had wavered, but when it did she just thought of the last seconds with her father’s consciousness and was reaffirmed.  
As she sat up the mice tumbled out of her hair and sat up, looking dazed. Allura thought a brief apology to them while looking around. There was nothing out of ordinary with her bedroom. All her books and pictures were in the right place, her senses told her that all four lions were safely back in their hangers, and that the Black Lion was slowly coming towards them… slowly coming towards them… 

Allura jumped out of bed. She could feel the Black Lion! The markings below her eyes began to glow iridescently as a mixture of relief, grief and wonder gushed into her. She had not felt the presence of the Black Lion in months; all the other Lions had been found over the months as she had quested out to find them. Always she had been able to sense the other four, but the Black Lion had always eluded her. She had learned to smother the empty space in her psyche where the Black Lion usually lived with other things, and there had been allot of other things to fill it. However she could never really fill the gap in the same way the Black Lion did. Similarly so, she had her heart set on finding all the paladins, and she found Lance and Keith, Pitch, and Hunk; she had come to realise that the space left by Shiro was very different from the others. Shiro was strong, and he looked after the team. He was the steady head of Voltron and had helped the team when Allura had deemed them past the point of no return.

However she also saw the other side of him. She had first learned this of him when she had been wondering her castle one night, familiarizing herself with it once more when she heard sobbing coming from the Black Paladin’s room. Curious, she opened the door to find Shiro sobbing into his pillow. He was gripping his prosthetic arm and rocking back and forth on the floor. Allura had immediately wanted to rush to check if his arm had malfunctioned but something held her back. Shiro’s eyes were closed and he was asleep. He kept crying out softly:

 

“Please don’t take my arm, please. I don’t want to be stronger. I don’t want to be the Champion… please.” 

There were other instances, like when she had laughed at a prank pulled on Lance and motioned her head in the way Altean’s do, to laugh at someone’s inconvenience. She had done no more than make this gesture before she was on the ground, Shiro on top of her. His hand was at her throat and prosthetic arm raised, glowing violently. They stayed like this for a tick before the clouds of animalistic hate cleared from Shiro’s eyes and he jumped off her, apologizing, bowing, asking for forgiveness and then running from the room. She found him later sitting atop his Lion crying.

“I didn’t mean to attack you like that Princess, I am so sorry. It’s just, the armourer who gave me this arm had that motion as he cut my arm off. Said I’d be stronger like this, make a better spectacle for the people. I pleaded with him not to, that I’d win all my fights without it but he insisted. He clamped my arm down and slowly cut it off with a plasma cutter. And all the while, he laughed and kept making that motion, over and over again…” He broke off into sobs. Allura had put her arms around him and held him, and whispered into his ear that it was okay. That he was not in the ring now. He was no longer the Champion, but Takashi Shirogane. the Black Paladin. They had been particularly close after that.

Allura looked felt something tug at her. It tugged her chin up and her eyes towards the view of the stars from her window. There she saw it. Amongst the burning debris, the black Lion flew as if limping towards the castle. As it came close and closer, it descended as if a weight was dragging it below. Allura felt its power waning and threw on her hooded night gown. As she got to the door, she glanced back. She then dashed back to her bedside, lengthening her arm so that she could sweep up the mice and her pistol. As she did this she grabbed a crumpled piece of paper from her bedside before sprinting to the door again. As she ran down the castle steps she hollered at the other Paladins and Coran to get up. The Black Lion could be piloted by Zarkon or other Galrah soldiers and she wasn’t taking any chances. She wouldn’t allow herself to have any hopes. She had to be realistic and lead the team in Shiro’s stead. As she exited the castle and the Black Lion drew ever nearer in her sight and mind, she noticed it was carrying something in its front paws. She gasped as she recognised it as the left wing of the Lion. She ran towards where she knew it would land, pistol held limply in one hand despite her earlier caution. All she wanted was to see who was inside. She grew as she ran, taking bigger and bigger strides. She was nearly 2 meters taller than her original height by now but in her emotional state she didn’t care for the etiquette of Altean transformation. As she ran her face marking glowed so brightly it looked, in the dappled dark, like a frantic luminescent moth was fluttering by. 

The Black Lion crashed down just in front of Allura. As she ran to the mouth it began to creak open. She remembered her caution and brought her gun forward, ready to strike. Coran wasn’t far behind her with his weaponised plasma saws and the Paladins were on their way to their lions. Allura crouched and tried to hold her trembling weapon steady. As the dust cleared, a swarm of bodies emerged from the mouth of the Black Lion. They were led by Shay, Allura saw and immediately her pistol dropped and her legs trembled as she shrunk back to her normal size. She began to stumble towards the mouth of the Lion. She walked passed Shay as if in a days. Shay was trying to tell her something but the thumping in her ears caused by her heart blocked out all sound. Shay gave up and ran to Coran who she began explaining to. Allura stumbled past old woman and children and injured young men of all species. She climbed into the lopsided mouth of the Black lion and made her way to the Paladins control centre in the head. There were blaster bolt scars everywhere and dried blood painted the floors. It smelled like it had been used as a slaughterhouse. The door to the pilot’s control centre was blocked, but Allura shot the control panel and shoulder charged her way in. Allura walked in the back of where the pilot should be, when she saw it. A faintly glowing limp right hand hung off the edge of the pilot’s seat, a rusty metal left leg was sprawled towards the edge of the control panel and just above the top of the seat was a tuft of black hair with specs of blood on it. Allura stood for a tick in shock, and then ran around to the front of the seat. There he was. His left hand still holding steely onto the controls for the Black Lion, unflinching and unmoving. The Black Paladin: Takashi Shirogane. Shiro. Her Shiro.

“Apologies for taking so long to get here Princess, I missed you.” Shiro pulled himself gingerly up and moved his legs as if to get up. His new prosthetic left leg creaked and the crude mechanics protested with this movement and the fabric where the prosthetic met the leg darkened. He didn’t have the chance to get up before Allura dove at him, pushing him back into his seat. Her body moulded to him, and she realized, she lips were on his. She pulled away and he smiled weakly. Her usually blue markings turned a deep shade of violet as she turned her face away.

“I was planning on waiting a few days to do that, but thank you Princess. Allura. Sorry to have worried you. I’m back.”

“Shiro, I…” 

“I can’t talk much, but...” He leaded into her and kissed her again and her mind melted. The worries of the last few months vanished as she took the fact that Shiro was back. The pressure of his lips lessened and she realised he had passed out. She pushed herself away from him, and grew herself. Allura gently picked him and realised she was making a face she hadn’t made in months. She was smiling. Even if the universe was at war, even if their chances of beat Zarkon were insignificantly small, right now, in this second, all was well.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this, I love Voltron so much! Shallura was a favourite of mine during the series and it was a pleasure to write about it. I did not intend this to be angsty but I guess it just became it. Let me know if you want more Voltron stuff and if you enjoyed this fic :-)


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